WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈

Chapter 43: Experiment Time Without Blame

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『Let's settle what to call each other first. Continuing to refer to each other as "I" will make the conversation difficult to follow.』

"You're right. All right, from now on, I'll call you 'Clone.'"

『Then I've decided what I'll call you: 'Original.'』

I spoke with Clone. I wanted to exchange opinions and discuss various topics, but given the circumstances, our conversation came down to a single question.

『How can Original escape this space?』

"What about you?"

『Well, we'll have to see once you escape. In this state, escaping alone would be like a shadow wandering around by itself. Once you escape, we'll find out whether I can escape with you, or whether Original will disappear and I, as the Clone, will cease to exist.』

I thought the same. As expected of a Clone, we thought alike.

"We need to search this place. I was too distracted by the mirror to look around."

『Good idea.』

I searched the entire room, but there was nothing.

"The walls do seem thicker than they did from outside."

『Could something be hidden inside them?』

"Then there's no hope. I hit them hard, but they didn't even crack."

『Oh dear. Given our strength, if even an all-out attack can't leave a crack, it means ordinary force won't be enough to destroy them.』

"Probably. And I think the mirror must be closely related to getting out."

『Because we can leave this place by overcoming the trial, and at present, I'm the only thing that could be called a trial?』

Clone said exactly what I was thinking.

"But the mirror's trial and the way out are probably separate matters."

『If they were the same, we would've found a way out the moment I stopped being hostile toward you.』

"Then how do we get out? Let's experiment."

First experiment: I attacked the mirror.

"It won't break."

『It doesn't even have a scratch.』

Second experiment: I considered the meaning and symbolism of a mirror, then tried to block it.

"A mirror reflects images, but it's also a passage that shows a world symmetrical to reality. What if we block that passage?"

『Let's try it.』

"I need something to paint with. I'll search outside and see if there's anything."

After searching the building outside, I found several cans of paint and coated the mirror.

"It disappears right away."

『Absorption? No, it seems more like evaporation, or perhaps it erased the result of anything being painted on it altogether.』

"So anything applied to the mirror disappears."

Third experiment: if paint couldn't cover the mirror, I would seal it physically.

"I wrapped it in cloth, but the moment I look away, it's already fallen off."

『What if you don't look away?』

"It disappears the instant I blink."

In the end, Clone and I reached one conclusion.

"There's something in the mirror."

『There's something in the mirror.』

"We just don't know what it is."

『Ah, wait. I just had a good idea.』

Clone rummaged through a pocket and took something out.

『When I took out 「Human」 earlier, something occurred to me. It wasn't just me that was cloned. My possessions were cloned too, right? I wondered if this had been copied as well, and it really was.』

It was a Golden Ticket. Clone wrote something on it with a pen and showed it to me.

[Please help my Original escape this place safely.]

Unlike the tickets I had used so far, the Golden Ticket caused no change.

『Look. The ticket changed.』

Clone showed me the ticket again. It had previously contained only a blank space for writing a wish, but words that hadn't been there before now appeared on it.

[Warning! Illegal duplication detected! : This ticket has been detected as having been created through illegal duplication. This ticket's function will be immediately suspended. If this ticket was not created unlawfully, it may be a simple error. In that case, please call 000-2345-4-4489-1000.]

『It says illegal duplication.』

"Interesting. Was the Golden Ticket made by someone too?"

『I'd like to say tickets can't simply exist on their own, but since it's an Anomaly, I suppose they could.』

"Then I'll have to use the ticket I have...."

I took out the Golden Ticket and the pen I always carried, but I didn't write anything right away.

『Hmm, hey, Original. What's wrong?』

Clone seemed to have noticed what I was thinking.

『Is there something you want to try?』

"Yes. Something suddenly made me curious."

『Curiosity is the root of humanity and the driving force behind growth. What is it?』

I drew an elevator on the floor with the pen.

"You know elevators, right? Generally, elevators have mirrors on three sides. When you look into two mirrors facing each other, they reflect one another and create an endless row of mirrors within the mirrors."

『I see what you want to do.』

"What if we place a mirror that clones what it reflects opposite another full-length mirror, then stand between them? Would the versions of me in those endless reflections inside the cloning mirror keep getting cloned too?"

Of course, it wouldn't truly be infinite. Clone pointed that out.

『Normally, because of reflectivity, the images would eventually stop rather than continuing forever. But this is an Anomaly, so who knows?』

"Then all I need is a mirror with 100 percent reflectivity?"

『The Golden Ticket would probably make one if you asked. But why were you hesitating about this?』

The reason I had hesitated was simple.

"What if the infinitely multiplying versions of me cause trouble in the world?"

『Original, don't worry. You're trapped here because of the Foundation's mistake. Your intellectual curiosity may even make the mirror go out of control and let you escape.』

"I think so too."

『Then that's settled.』

Clone told me what I wanted to hear.

『Put another way, you bear no responsibility for anything that happens from this point onward. It's all the Foundation's fault.』

Upon hearing that, I wrote a wish on the Golden Ticket.

[Please summon an unbreakable mirror with 100 percent reflectivity, including a stand, beside me.]

Then the empty air distorted as though a violent vortex had formed within it, and in the blink of an eye, a large full-length mirror appeared.

『I thought the Golden Ticket's wishes happened not as a god performing a miracle, but as coincidences that arrived like good fortune?』

"I suppose this is the same. In a world capable of making a mirror with 100 percent reflectivity, a dimensional distortion happened by chance, and that mirror happened to fall in front of me. Something like that."

『That's remarkably convenient. It's a shame this is the last Golden Ticket.』

I positioned the mirrors to face each other.

"All right, then...."

『This is exciting.』

I squeezed myself between them.

『Oh.』

Countless images appeared in the cloning mirror.

An endless line of mirrors, close to infinity, perhaps truly infinite.

『It works.』

Within them, more Lee Seung-hoons appeared.

『Ah.』

The world beyond the mirror began to distort.

『It must be overloaded.』

Clone gave a bitter smile.

『It looks like it might explode.』

＊＊＊

'Whew, I nearly pissed myself.'

Kim Dong-uk, having used the restroom, washed his hands at the sink.

'More importantly, we need to rescue Mr. Lee Seung-hoon quickly.'

He scrubbed carefully between his fingers, lathering the liquid soap.

'We need The One Remaining Monkey's Paw to fully restore Sephirot. Once it's restored, we can foresee and prepare for apocalyptic Anomalies on global, dimensional, and universal scales.'

He thought of Sephirot, burned and grotesque.

'We invited him here to restore you, so why did you push someone like that into the Defense System Dimension?'

Remembering the Foundation scientists' warning that Sephirot's damage could have caused an error, Kim Dong-uk finished washing his hands and looked up.

『Hello?』

"!?"

『Mr. Dong-uk, you wash your hands very carefully. That's a good thing. Modern people all neglect the importance of handwashing, but....』

Lee Seung-hoon's reflection stood beyond the mirror.

True to his Foundation training, Kim Dong-uk drew his gun from its holster and fired within 0.2 seconds.

『In terms of modern hygiene, handwashing is a revolutionary practice that improves the human survival rate. It is a desirable behavior.』

The mirror shattered, its fragments scattering through the air.

Within them, Kim Dong-uk saw it.

『You think so too? I do as well.』

『Haha, of course you think so. You're me, after all.』

『I never imagined there would be so many of me. Was the experiment a great success?』

『Interesting. Experiments really are fun. It's been a long time since I felt intellectual pleasure at this level.』

A Lee Seung-hoon resided in every shard of the broken mirror.

"!?"

This phenomenon wasn't limited to the restroom.

"W-what is that!? There's a person in the window!?"

『Hello? The weather is lovely, isn't it?』

It was happening simultaneously throughout the Foundation, wherever there were mirrors.

『Ah, you were playing a game? Sorry for interrupting.』

"W-what!? It's an Anomaly!"

It appeared on someone's smartphone screen.

『Are you driving? You handle the steering wheel wonderfully.』

"I can't see ahead!"

It appeared on someone's windshield.

『Haha, there are so many monitors here. Is this the situation room?』

"Emergency! An Anomaly has infiltrated!"

And on countless monitor screens.

Human figures appeared wherever an image could be reflected. The Foundation was startled and about to activate emergency protocols when Seong Yu-ra stopped them.

"Wait! That's the person we were looking for! The very person who was abducted into the Defense System Dimension!"

"What!? You're saying that's not an Anomaly!?"

"It isn't... probably."

She looked around.

『Ah, there are so many of me here.』『Hello, everyone.』『Since there are so many of me, could there be Mutants too?』『The Square Root Law, right?』『People often say Mutants are bad, but they're not necessarily bad.』『Without Mutants, it would be difficult to adapt to environmental changes.』『From the perspective of a species, Mutants are necessary to increase its survival rate.』『Does survival have meaning for us?』『No, but isn't it interesting that there are versions of me different from me?』『It certainly is interesting.』

They appeared on the situation room's countless monitors, in the lenses of the employees' glasses, on smartphones, and even on shining fingernails.

『Ah! How fascinating. I can be seen in nails too! It seems anything with high reflectivity will work!』

There were so many Lee Seung-hoons talking at once that it was enough to make her head ache.

-Administrator! Something has happened to the emergency passage leading into the Defense System Dimension!

"What!? I'm coming now!"

Seong Yu-ra received the report through the radio and ran somewhere in the Foundation.

『Ms. Seong Yu-ra, is the place I was trapped in the Foundation's defense system?』

『There were quite a few interesting Anomalies.』

『What does the mirror want? What are its characteristics?』

Passing through the Lee Seung-hoons, she reached a room where special forces personnel had their guns trained on a full-length mirror.

『Original, I think this is the exit.』

『Really? I can see it now.』

Another mirror formed a pair with the Mirror of Murderous Intent in the Defense System Dimension.

Lee Seung-hoon was reflected within it, with another Lee Seung-hoon visible beyond.

『It seems I will cease to exist. I can feel it instinctively.』

『That's unfortunate. It's rare to have a chance to talk with oneself.』

『It can't be helped. Isn't that what life is like?』

『That's how it is.』

The world beyond the mirror distorted into a murky blur.

『Goodbye, me.』

『Farewell, me.』

At the same time, the mirror shattered, and before long, the space beyond it was fully connected to the Defense System Dimension.

"Ah! May I come out?"

"Everyone, lower your weap... Don't. Hold position."

Seong Yu-ra nodded.

"Raise both hands and come out slowly."

"Yes, I will."

Lee Seung-hoon stepped through the passage in the empty air framed by the mirror.

"...."

Countless questions clouded Seong Yu-ra's mind.

How did you survive in there?

How did you evade the other Anomalies?

How did you overcome the Mirror of Murderous Intent, and what exactly is this phenomenon!?

One question rose above all the others.

"Who are you? Could you be an Anomaly?"

He answered.

"My name is Lee Seung-hoon."

He smiled softly, without a trace of hostility.

"And I'm just an ordinary human."

Footnotes:

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